PHILADELPHIA — Shaking his head, as if seeking forgiveness in advance, Doug Collins signaled to empty his bench. In the third quarter. With his team trailing by eight possessions.

What was the Sixers’ coach to do? With zero options for Collins, and just as many highlights for the Sixers, maybe there’s something to be gleaned from the 105-88 beatdown issued by the Timberwolves.

“This team hasn’t been through anything together, so I don’t know who they are,” Collins said. “The adversity we’ve had have been injuries, but I’m talking about losing. I worry about that. I worry about getting punched in the mouth a few times and how we’re going to react. That’s a huge concern for me.”

Evan Turner took 20 shots to score 19 points Tuesday. Thad Young had only two rebounds against Minnesota’s Herculean bigs, Kevin Love and Nikola Pekovic. And Jrue Holiday paired 13 points with nine assists for the Sixers, who were sent off the court to a cascade of boos amid a second straight loss.

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Collins was asked if anyone speaks up in tough times, like facing a daunting halftime deficit, or permitting the NBA’s worst 3-point-shooting team to run a clinic. Collins shook his head.

“Wish I could be a little more eloquent,” he said.

This one got ugly in a hurry, with the Timberwolves (8-8), who had lost six of eight games, getting off to a torrid start from the floor and never looking back. They staked a 13-point lead after 12 minutes.

How bad did it get for the Sixers (10-8)?

In the second quarter, Lavoy Allen was whistled for a moving screen 30 feet from the basket, and Turner was called for offensive goaltending on one of the rare putbacks that actually went in. The Timberwolves went on a 10-0 run in 76 seconds, scoring at will inside the first minutes of the second quarter to make a manageable game into a 44-24 Minnesota lead.

“We kind of gave them whatever they wanted,” Holiday said. “We let them run whatever play they wanted, let them get to their spots. We weren’t very aggressive. We didn’t take them out of anything. Basically, they were playing against a practice team.”

By halftime, the Sixers had given up more points to the Timberwolves in two quarters (65) than they had in four quarters Nov. 7 at New Orleans (62). It was the most points surrendered by the Sixers in the opening half all year, three more than they relinquished in a Nov. 12 loss to visiting Milwaukee.

The stats spoke for themselves: The Timberwolves’ bench outscored the Sixers at the half, 32-4, and Minnesota had outshot the Sixers, 59 percent to 44.

The ugliness persisted when Luke Ridnour swished a 3-point attempt with nine minutes to go in the third. That gave Minnesota its 11th trey on 18 attempts. The NBA’s worst-shooting team from beyond the arc, entering the game hitting only 28.6 percent of their long-range looks, was converting at a 61-percent clip. For the game, they shot 52 percent from 3-point distance, making a season-best 13 3-balls.

Collins said he wasn’t going to overreact.

“I’m not going to run up and down the sidelines,” he said. “My legs would get tired. That ain’t going to work. Then they’ll look at me like I’m the maniac.”

Instead, he and the Sixers waved the white flag by the midpoint of the third quarter, when Collins went to a lineup that featured offensively anemic Kwame Brown, third-string point guard Royal Ivey and defensive specialist Damien Wilkins in a 22-point game.